Review: Justice League #1

The opening panels of Scott Snyder and Jim Cheung’s Justice League #1 sees an unidentifiable energy blob streak across not only space, but time too, toward Earth. As it does, it is observed by the Justice League Alpha, Grant Morrison’s future league from the year 85000 (1 million months from now give or take), The Monitor (one of Morrison’s toys in Final Crisis) some 85000 years in the past and Kamandi (another one of Grant’s favourites), some 5000 years in the future. In a single page Snyder lets us know what to expect from his run on DC’s premier superhero team – mind-bending, universal threats to both space and time that only a collection of the most powerful heroes in the galaxy can hope to defeat. And he’s taking his cues from the man who does it best.

The nods to Morrison don’t stop with single panel fan service. Snyder has restored J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, to active Justice League duty, once again in the role of chairman and master strategist, a position he occupied in the 90s JLA run. Even the narrative seems somewhat analogous to the Maggedon arc that permeated Morrison’s entire run – an unstoppable, primordial force of nature has escaped the Source Wall and it’s heading for Earth.

Of course, taking inspiration from something and actually doing it justice are two separate things. It should come as no surprise, however, that Snyder finds the perfect balance between reverence for the past and innovation. Snyder opened up a Pandora ’s Box of potential threat during Dark Knights: Metal (the League smashed the Source Wall to save Earth) and now finds himself in possession of a toy-box limited only by his own imagination. We get tantalising glimpses of what is in store in Justice League #1. Not too much, but just enough. It is a perfectly paced opening salvo, packed with giddy fan indulgence and mythic levels of foreboding. All of this combined with Cheung’s energetic line work and Mark Morales’ luxurious colours is a somewhat heady mix. It may require two readings to take it all in.

We are only one issue into the new Justice League but it is obvious that Snyder and co. understand what the League should be. The comparisons to the JLA of the 90s are obvious (and flattering) but it is clear that if Snyder is using Morrison’s (and, by default, Kirby’s) work as his foundation, he intends the house that stands upon it to be all his own. A stunning opening issue in every sense.